How to Make Yoga a Core Part of Your Bedtime Routine
How many times have you gently drifted off to sleep while doing Corpse Pose at the end of a yoga practice? Yoga and sleep pair together well. In fact, adding yoga to their weekly schedule helped staff nurses improve their sleep quality and reduce stress. Even after six months, the nurses continued to report higher-quality sleep and less tension than the nurses that didn't incorporate yoga. Practicing yoga can help you sleep better, which leads to other benefits, like improved alertness and mood when you wake up in the morning.
How to Develop a Bedtime Routine
Getting into a bedtime routine already has sleep benefits. The repetition of activities before bed is a signal to your brain that it’s time to get prepared for sleep. It works even better if you start the pattern at the same time each night. Then your mind knows to release melatonin, which makes you feel sleepy and ready to drift off peacefully. Including yoga in this routine may help reduce stress and make it easier to fall asleep.
Other activities that you can include in your bedtime routine are:
- Taking a warm bath
- Reading a book
- Drinking warm milk
- Journaling
The only caveat is that you should not include any technology in your bedtime pattern. The blue light from devices like computer monitors and phones tells the brain that it’s time to wake up. Exposure to blue light suppresses the release of melatonin for up to three hours. Your devices should be powered down before you start getting ready for bed.
Add Yoga Before Sleeping
Although you can include yoga at any time in your bedtime routine, it’s nice to do it last because you can do relaxing yoga poses in bed. Most beds can support doing these simple yoga positions, but a firm mattress tends to be better than an overly soft one. Many people find that mattresses made from natural latex are a great fit for doing poses in bed; they’re supportive but not too bouncy, and they don’t tend to carry lingering chemical smells like some synthetic foams.
Try these calming yoga poses before dissolving into Corpse Pose’s restful state:
Extend your legs up the wall. Since this is supposed to be a calming experience, move into it slowly. Keep your butt about 6 inches from the wall. Move back further if the stretch is too intense for your hamstrings.
Do a cross-legged twist. Sit with your ankles crossed and gently twist your body to the left and then the right. Move carefully and try to extend your gaze behind you.
Stretch like a goddess. While lying on your back, gently press the soles of your feet together and move them towards your head. Stop if it becomes too intense. The stretch should be easeful.
Relax into child’s pose. Sit on top of your feet and quietly fold forward over your knees. Remain here as long as you’d like.
Like any yoga practice, you can end this session with Corpse Pose. However, you won’t hear your teacher’s soothing voice or a chiming bell at the conclusion. You can just slip into sleep.
If you have a difficult time falling asleep or staying asleep, try to develop a bedtime routine that includes yoga. This process can release stress and enable you to get higher quality sleep.
Sarah Johnson
Community Relationss johnson@tuck.com